Four fishermen stand, as if posing for the photograph, in a small clinker-built boat called a ‘blind net’ gig named Cothey, which resembles in size and shape a St Ives Jumbo, at low tide in St Ives Harbour. By the boat, standing on the ground, are two further fishermen, one hauling on the buoyed rope of a net. In the middle distance, beyond the Jumbo, are a West Country schooner and a trading ketch, bows towards the camera, both aground, with a horse standing below the bow of the latter.